Alex Ovechkin became the NHL’s new goals king on April 6 after scoring his 895th career goal against New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin. The achievement has spawned numerous pieces of memorabilia, including t-shirts, hats, pucks, pucks with game-used ice, Funko Pops, signed photos, and bobbleheads.
The NHL’s exclusive trading card partner, Upper Deck, may have produced the most fascinating collectible, however.
Upper Deck plans to cut up the carpet from the NHL’s on-ice ceremony for Ovechkin at UBS Arena and insert the pieces into cards. The unique memorabilia cards will be available in the upcoming “Alex Ovechkin 895 Hobby Set.”
The ceremony, which took place immediately after Ovechkin scored career goal number 895, featured Ovechkin and his family, Wayne Gretzky and his wife Janet, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis.
Once over, every Capitals player on the roster took a photo standing on the carpet together with Ovechkin.
The carpet is navy blue and has a thin red border. It features Ovechkin’s name, his chase logo, and the number 895.
The cards have drawn mixed reactions from collectors, with some appreciating the history they provide, while others are puzzled as to why anyone would want a piece of carpet that the league only used for a total of 22 minutes.
Obtaining memorabilia from the record-breaking moment has been a challenge, as Ovechkin’s equipment and milestone goal puck are already in Russia, bound for his future museum in Moscow, the Hockey Hall of Fame, or auction houses.
Upper Deck has not yet revealed the release date and price of the product. The future release follows the company’s previous drop of a “GR8 Moments” set on its virtual platform, Upper Deck e-Pack.
The e-Pack exclusive product features moments from throughout Ovechkin’s career on cards, numbered parallels of those cards, and even rare autograph parallels. Upper Deck e-Pack allows you to virtually pull cards from available products and then choose to have the digital cards converted into physical ones, which can be shipped to you.
“It is a huge honor for me for Upper Deck to make special collections for fans to celebrate this moment in our sport,” Ovechkin said in an Upper Deck press release in April. “I’m so thankful for all the support from our great fans.”
The hunt is also still on for the eight autographed and hand-numbered Alex Ovechkin rookie cards placed in Upper Deck’s 2024-25 Extended Series release. A customer recently pulled the 1/8 version of the card at a Quebec-based card store.
